It [NPR] has become very ingrown if not incestuous in terms of their perspective.

She had executioner’s knife for anybody who didn’t abide by her way of thinking. I think she represented an ingrown culture in that institution that’s not open to not only different ways of thinking, but angry at the fact that Ii would even talk or be on Fox, angry at the fact that people have different perspectives and a conservative perspective might emerge on Fox or NPR. To my mind this is good news for NPR and people who care about news in America.

I’m telling you is they have a culture there that is not open to real news. It’s not open to all points of view. It’s not open to the real world around it and the many different dynamics and perspectives and stories that animate the news in America.

If they want to be Pravda, if they want to be issue propaganda…fine. I think everybody knows the real story here. The real story is you can’t go around treating people like trash and pretending that anybody who has a different point of view is illegitimate.

I notice you have several words missing in your quotation from the original article. Just so people know that this is not how the original reads.

It was interesting listening to Juan’s telling of NPR’s history. He said that the people at the top have this “originalist” notion of what NPR is. They’re people who were in the network back when it was “independent radio” on college campuses, and they’ve stayed on, and stayed at the top of the organization, as NPR has grown into a major network, and they set the orthodoxy of what they put out. Anyone who doesn’t conform to the “original vision” is pushed out. He said it’s very hard for young people, and people of different races to be there because of this.

As I listened to this it reminded me of the stresses and strains that the Reform Party went through, because this same dynamic existed there as well. What Juan describes happened in the RP. It was difficult for people from outside the movement to come in and be a part of the party, because the people who where there “from the beginning” wanted the party to always keep the same political positions, and have the same spirit as when the movement began. The “old guard” was often accused of being wedded to one man: Ross Perot, but I think what I’ve identified was closer to the truth. It’s just that there was no one else like him, so since they came in because of what he represented, they kept going back to him. It was tough, because I can understand the impulse to want to maintain the original vision of the organization. Anyone who has worked hard to help create something feels a sense of ownership over it, and it’s difficult to let others in who have their own ideas about how things should be. I think it’s excusable that a political organization would go through this, but it feels odd to be talking about a radio network this way. The fact that I am indicates to me that these people have seen NPR as an force for social/political change all along.

The party ended up tearing itself apart because of the above. The revolutionaries who liberated us from England went through this as well, but Washington helped avoid the temptation of revolutionaries to take over in a coup once the victory was won. That was a unique moment in history. He reminded them what they were fighting for, and it was something greater than themselves. NPR, if it has any greatness in it, might at least heed the example of these revolutionaries, if not understand that it should not be this “force” that they’ve imagined it to be all this time. I’d prefer to see it become an organ that serves the public interest, that just reports the events of the day as honestly as it can, and promotes honest and intelligent dialogue on the issues.

Just to clarify, I didn’t mean to fault you for not quoting the entire interview. What I was pointing out were phrases like, “She had executioner’s knife for anybody…,” and, “I’m telling you is…,” with “I’m” at the beginning of the sentence. My guess is you were writing this in a hurry and just missed some words, but on first blush it made it look like Juan was speaking in broken English. I looked at that and thought, “Wait a minute. Juan doesn’t sound like this…” So I made a note of that in my comment.

i have a hard time having any sympathy for this guy or caring what he thinks about NPR. so what, they screwed you. they’ve been screwing Israel for years. he was in bed with NPR forever , taking their money, and didn’t seem all that troubled by their condescending noblesse oblige attitude toward minorities and their absolutely criminally biased reporting on Israel.

one of the most offensive things i ever heard on npr was an interview with barry white .it was so blatantly offensive to black men in particular i was taken aback that they could even air it- but, then again, since their listenership is 80% white lib-bot … the interviewer , a white female ,was going into raptures about how hot she found a movie scene that used one of his songs. it involved an underage prostitute and her pimp who, after smacking her around, was cooing a barry white love song to her . this NPR person in dire need of therapy ( and more diversity training because , uh, all black men aren’t pimps or something) just found it all so deep, penetrating and sexy. mr white was not amused. he replied he found that use of his song offensive because he was raised by his mother to respect women- and such a disrespectful and degrading use of women and love did not reflect his values. this npr hack seemed oblivious to how offensive her twisted projection was.

we learned way more about the deep hidden naughty longings of a middle aged white woman at npr than we did about barry white. their years of skewered reporting on Israel speaks for itself- typical but really propaganda for the PLO by any other name. plus the largest gift they ever received was from the widow of the founder of McDonalds.

NPR is partly fueled by the fat of chubby kids- the biggest terror threat in the whole nation! i’m surprised Moochelle isn’t in the forefront of stripping all their funding.